When one thinks of tragedy, they often think of war-torn countries, school shootings, or even natural disasters. In literature however, tragedy is something completely different. Originating in Ancient Greece's theaters about 2,500 years ago, the tragedy genre has fascinated mankind for ages. In a nutshell, tragedy is a type of drama that is rooted in human suffering and gives the audience a sense of pleasure and satisfaction. The Wikipedia page says that the audience gets a sense of "catharsis". I had never heard of that word before, and so I decided to look it up. After reading the definition, I began to think about tragedy a little differently. People don't just watch tragedies because they are masochistic and enjoy being sad, tragedies can often be somewhat comforting. In most cases, there is something familiar and almost uplifting about learning the mistakes of others. We can sympathize with the situations the characters find themselves in, and we can learn valuable lessons.
As a reader, it is important to be able to dig deeper whilst reading, especially when one reads a tragedy piece. You cannot look at it and think "This is a tragedy piece because it is sad", because that is not the way one should be interpreting tragedy. A literature piece is not marked a tragedy merely because something sad happens, it is marked a tragedy because it gives readers that sense of empathy and understanding for other humans, and mankind in general. It is a perfect way to connect us as a species, because none of us are safe from tragedy in our day to day lives. |
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